Machine for cutting up string beans



E. GUNTHE T AL MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP STRING BEANS Oct 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed May 1 '7 Oct. 28, 1924. A1,513,389

, E. GUNTHER ET AL MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP STRING BEANS Filed May 17. 1924 4 sheets-sheet 2 ATTORNEY E. GUNTHER ET A= MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP STRING BEANS Filed May 17. 4 shets-sheet g |IE-NTORS ATTORN Oct. 28, m24. .1,513,389

E.`GUNTHER ET A L MACHINE FOR CUTTING UP STRING BEANS Filed May- 17 1924 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 isi atented ct. 2S, 1924.

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insee@ MACHINE CUTTING UIP STRING BEANS.

Application filed May 177 To f/,ZZ wlw/m. t may concern:

Be it known that we, EMIL GUNTHER and Fano J. Gor-tristan, citizens of the United States of America, residing` at Racine, `Wis consin, have invented certain new and useful lmprovenients in Machines for Cutting Up String Beans, of which the following is a specification.

Qur invention relates to a machine for cutting up string beans into short lengths. It comprises the combination of a mass-distributor, by which term we mean to describe an instrumentality which receives a large quantity of string beans, say a peck or two, in a promiscuous mass-form at one end and feeds them out and distributes them in appropriately small quantities, preferably in a continuous stream, at the other end to another element which we call a car# rier-straightener, which term we use to describe an instrumentality by which the beans, which have been fed to it in small but unarranged quantities are, during their carriage, arranged in parallel directions or straightened, this carriage or transport in the meanwhile taking the beans to a radially shelved wheel.

Now this wheel has'inounted on its axisv a series of radial shelves and these shelves are slotted, at equal intervals, in planes at right angles both to the shelves and to the axis of the wheel. As a consequence, we can mount upon a stationary knifeehead a series of knives at intervals equal to those by which the slot-s are separated and thereby have the knives register with the slots and penetrate up to the point where the shelves become part of the solid structure of the wheel axis. Therefore, all the beans which lie upon a given shelf will, as the rotary shelf moves b-y the stationary knives, be cut into appropriate lengths and the bean pieces will be subsequently discharged from the shelf as the shelf which carries them tilts down.

Such combination of the mass-distributor, a caHier-straightener, a radially-shelved and slotted wheel and a cutter-head with spaced knives constituting a string bean cutter, we believe to be new.

Again, in this general combination, we have found particularly useful a mass-distributor which consists of a rotary conical 1924. Serial Nov 713,989.

or cylindrical hopper having an opening at one end into which the mass of beans is fed, just as the beans come from a bushel basket, and in which hopper is arranged a helical blade which breaks up this large mass into small groups or even into a steady stream. Such mass-distributor is peculiarly in our combination because it handles the beans in a way which is very practical in the actual operation and because it cooperates with `peculiar'-efliciency with the form of carrier-straightener which we employ. i

The carrier-straightener, in fact, consists of an upper and a lower shelf and a pair of endless sprocket chains at each edge, which chains are carried on two pairs of sprocket wheels and are connected by equally spaced transverse slats running along the shelves, the parts being arranged so that the string beans fall onto the upper shelf, along which these slats travel, the beans being first carried away from the shelved wheel by the pressure of the transverse slats against them, which pressure acts to straighten the beans and to put them into positionsv parallel to each other and transverse to the carrier, the beans now fall from the end of the Aupper shelf and land onthe top ofthe lower shelf, along which they are pushed by these same transverse slats toward the shelved wheel and the knives. It is to' be particularly noted that the slats are so timed as to operate in synchronism with the shelves of the wheel so as to deposit the straightened beans, which now lie parallel with the axis of the wheel, onto that shelf of the wheel which is in time with the corresponding slat. In this way the machine is not unduly increased in length, in fact its length is re-` duced nearly one-half, and the hopper finds place above thev carrier-straightener so as to make aV compact structure.

The more detailed feature of novelty will be pointed out in the claims.

Referring now to the drawings:

Figure l, is a vertical longitudinal section of the machine. Y

Figure 2, is a horizontal section of the machine looking down on line 2-2 of Figure l.

Figure 3, is a perspective view partly broken away, of the entire machine,

and

lfinure 1U. illustrates the spaces between the hniv-v The mass-distributor fr consists of. a center cylindrical portion 1, having a conical end 29 into which the inass of beans are fed and an end 3 from which they are discharged in a distributed fashion. lWithin the mass-distributor there is provided a helical flangeA el which breaks up the inass of beans in the body of the'distributor into a sinall regularly flowing streasrl which discharged thru the inouth 5.

Means are provided for supporting and rotating the mass-distributor or hopper. These means may be varie. fis illustrated? the mouth 5 is connected to shaft 6 by nieans of a spolre 7, the inner end of the spoke being` secured to the shaft and the outer end to the inout-h by ineans of a strap 8. The shaft is rotated by bevel gears 9, 109 the gear 9 being carried by a countershaft 11 carrying a sprocket 10 at one end. The sproclet 12 is driven frein the power shaft 13 of the inachine, the power shaft being provided with and driving fast and loose pulleys 1a. on the other side of the inachine.` rllhe pinion 13 nieshes with pinion 15, carried by shaft 21S-and a chain 17 passes around sprockets 18, 12. ly these nieans counter-shaft 11 is driven froin the power shaft 13, thus driving bevel gears 9, 10 and rotating the shaft 6 to which the mass-distributor A is secured. The mass-distributor is thus slowly rotated. rlhe gears 9 and 10 are carried in a protecting casing 20.

Means are provided for tilting the reassdistributor so as to regulate the v feed of the beans and their rate of discharge froin the distributor. ln the forni of the invention illustrateds pair of standards areKV provided having slots 22 at the top, Arms .3 swing on shaft 11 and are crossconnected by means of arcollar 2st, the latter surrounding shaft 6. By raising and lowering the. arins and securing thorn in their raised'- and. lowered position by bolts 25', passing thru slots 22, the shaft 6 can be vertically adjusted and with it the inassdistributor Ad about the shaft 11.

y Thebeans are discharged frein the tilting discharge inouth 5, onto the stationary up per platform of the straightener.. While discharging the beans are carried inore or less to one side. Means are provided for "fling the beans as they drop from the 'ibutor so that they are spread more across. the platform. Fingers, or baffle bars, 26, 2l' are fastened to the side wall 28 toward which the beans are dis-- charged, the linger 26 being shorter tha-:i the linger 27. fis the beans drop down over the fingers they are spread more evenly ove:I the platform. The side walls 28 connected at the back by wall 29, so as to pro-- vent the beans freni being discharged too far forward.

'lf-he carrier-straightener 30, upon the upper shelf 31 of which the beans are discharged from the hopper A, consists of the short upper shelf 31 and a lower longo shelf it opposite ends of the shel. are shafts 1S, which each carry a pair of sprocket wheels 34, around which passes a pair of endless sprocket chains 3:5, which are connected by slats 86 uniformly spaced apart. These slats slide over the shelves and push along any7 string beans which inaj; have landed on the upper shelf from the n'iass-distributor A, and in being pushed along to the right in Figure 1 they are gradually straightened.

lflvlhe-n the beans on the upper or short shelf get to the end of that shelf7 they are dropped down on the lower shelf, practically retaining their parallelism in falling, whereupon the slats push them toward the left in Figure l and still further straighten thein.

Any beans which, in falling from the up per to the lower shelf, have risen at an angle above therlower shelfy are pushed down to lie :dat ou this lower shelf by the cross bar rlhe right hand'` sprocket wheel shaftA in .Figure 1 is adjusted to tighten the sprocket chains by havi its bearings w rl ing in slides which are controlled by adjusting screws 38 in a manner which is well understood and is illustrated in Figure 1. rl"he inset plate 39 in Figure 3, which is inatched by a similar plate on the opposite side of the nia-chine shown in 5, supports the two shelves 31 and lll e now describe the radially shelved wheel l0 which consists of dislosections 4V having radial spokes d2 which by inea-ns of lief/f slots 1? are struupon the por-:er shaftB rlhereV are spa/sgg devices 44; between the dislrs 's1-1 and the c slrs are c'lan'i sed together by sleeves llo, which ar A i clanniii`n` position by screws a6. rious spones Ll2 of adjacent disks alig; o as to constitute radial shelves', upon which tht4 aligned beans are pushed by the cross-slats 36 of 'tie carrie'r-straightener, the inoveY nient of Athe slats and of the radial shelves being timed as before explained.

But as will be evidents these shelves have in theni a number of slots in planes perpenshelves.

dicular both to the shelves and to the wheel axis, the lslots running crosswise to the Into these slots fit the knives.

A cross bar 47 with a cutting edge will shear any beans that may ride the shelves on their' outside edges, one part of the bean dropping into one pocket between the shelves and the other into the adjacent pocket.

The knives 48 for cutting up the beans are mounted on a pivoted rod 49 about which they can swing slightly, the amount of the swing being determined by the slotted portions 50 of the knives thru which slotted portions bolts 5l pass. The knives are separated by spacing blocks 52. The knives thus project into the slots between the shelves, and can yield slightly in cutting.

The entire knife frame is mounted so as to be capable of being thrown clear from hard substances such as sticks, as the shelves turn. The knife frame is carried by end plates 53, one at each side, the end plates having angular portions 54 thru which pass bolts 56, pulled by springs 57. .A rocking movement of the knife frame is thus permitted with relation to the seats supporting the angular portions 54.

Springs 58 are secured to the end plates 53 of the knife frame and yieldingly hold the knife frame in place. y

A deliveryv chute 60 receives the cut up portions of the beans and discharges them from the machine. This chute may be swung vertically and kept in its adjusted position by bolt 61 passing thru swlnging arm 62.

Having thus described the construction, the operation will be clear, the beans are poured into the mass-distributor and when the machine is driven, they are cut up by the knives and discharged from the machine in cut up pieces, by the delivery chute. It will be understood that changes may be made in the construction of the machine without departing from the principle of the invention.

Nhat we claim is:

l. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a mass-distributor, a carrierstraightener, a rotary wheel with slotted shelves and knives passing within the slots, substantially as described.

2. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of mass-distributing hopper having a helical blade therewithin, a carrierstraightener, a wheel with slotted shelves and knives passing within the shelves, substantially as described.

3. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a mass-distributor, a carrier straightener consisting of an upper and lower shelf and transverse slats operating along the shelves, a wheel with radial and slotted shelves onto which the slats deposit the beans and knives passing within the slots to cut the beans into pieces, substantially as described.

4. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a carmer-straightener, consisting of an upper and a lower shelf, sprock- Q et chains ruiming along the edges of the shelves Iand transverse slats connecting the chains, a' rotary wheel with radial and slotted shelves timed to work in synchronism with the slats which deposit the beans thereon; and knives passing within the slots to cut the bea-ns into described. n

5. VA stringbeancutter comprising-the pieces, substantially as combination of two pairs of sprocket wheels on, and` knives passing within the" slots to eut the beans into scribed.

6. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a'carrier-straightener having transverse slats actuated by-chains to straighten the beans, moving in one 'direction at the top and in the other direction at the bottom of their'travel, thereby diminishing t-he length of the device, a rotary wheel with radial and slotted shelves timed to work in synchronism with the slats which deposit the beans thereon and knives passing within the slots to cut the beans into pieces, substantially as described.

7. A string-bean cutter rcomprising the combination of a mass-distributor, a carrierstraightener consisting of an upper and a. lower shelf and transverse slats operating along the shelves, a finger between the mouth of the hopper and the upper shelf, a wheel with radial and slotted shelves onto which the slats deposit the beans and knives passing within the slot-s to cut the beans into pieces, substantially as described.

8. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a mass-distributor, a carrierstraightener consisting of an upper and a lower shelf nnd transverse slats operating along the shelves, a pair of fingers of unequal length between the mouth of the hopper and the upper shelf over which the beans fall, a wheel with radial and slotted shelves onto which the slats deposit the beans and knives passing within the slots to cut the beans into pieces, substantially as described.

9. A string-bean cutter comprising the combination of a rotary, mass-distributing hopper, means for adjusting the inclination of said hopper, a carrier-straightener, a

pieces, substantially as' dellt) wheel with? slotted-f shelves EndA knives pass.n ing; Witfliinr the slots,` substantially as described.

10. A stizifngbean cutter comprising the combinationl ot al rotary, massndistributing ln-ipgjier,V a shaft connected tolv said.. hopper for notiatifng: it,. a, colla-'r thru which said shaft passes,- means 'for vertically adjusting said collarV so as to vary the inclination of the hoppen a1 carrier-straightener, a Wheel with slotted: shelves and knives pass-nig Within the slots substantially as described.

1l'. A string-bean cutter comprising the combina-sion oit a' rotary, mass-distributing hopper,` ai shaift to; which the; hopper is seei'ire'd for' rotating: it, a oafrrierestra-ightener consisting of an upper and a lower shelf, spr-oeket chains running along the edges of the' shelves and transverse slats. connecting` tl'iecliainsg. a power slaft 'for driving said chains, aIA rota-ny WheelA withl radial. and slotted?. shelves, gearing bet-Ween said power sha-fit, afndf- Wheel, thereby timing the; wheel tfovworkI insyn'chron-ism Withthe slats, bevel gears for' driving; the hopper shaft, sprocket Wheels and` a. chainf for driving,l the bevel gears from the radially shelved Wheel shaft, and knives passing Within the slots of the shelves ton entfthe beans into' pieces.

112'. A; stringi-bean cutter comprising the combination of azmass-distributor, a carrierstraigflitener consist/5mg1 ot anupper and a Leases@ low-ei2 shelf, transverse slats operatingV alonga the shelves, a Wheel with, radialV and slotted shelves onto* which the slats deposit the beans, a.- cross bar extending over said Wheel and knives passing: Within thev slots to cui'. the beans into pieces, substantially as described` L3; A string-bean cutter: comprising the combination of a mass-distributor, a carrierstraiglitener consisting of an upper and a loiver slielii, transverse slats operating,` alo-ng the shelves,Y a cross bar extending across and above' the lower shelf between` which bar and the shel' tbe beanspass, a Wlieelwith radial andy slotted shelves onto which, the slats deposit the beans and` knives passing Within the slots .to cut the bea-ns into pieces, substantially as described.-

14e. As stringi-bean `cutter comprising a feeding straightener for the beans, a Wheel with 11a-dial and slotted shelves onto which the beans are deposited, a cross bar. extending: over sai d wheel andl cooperating there with 'fon shearing. the'beans thatA ride the shelves on their outside edges, and. knives passing'. Within` the slot;` to` cut the beans into pieces, substantial-ly as described.

In testimony Whereofylwe have signed oui names to'I this specification..

13Min GUNTHER. man J. GUNTHER. 

